Nine
by Weskette
Summary: What started out as cravings turns into something a lot more. How well can one adventurer handle a hormonal Elena?
1. Month One

**Originally, this was to be a oneshot. Oneshot no more, though. I'll continue this, of course.**

**Nine**

**Month one**

"Really? Watermelon?" Nate asked.

Elena's voice came from the otherside of the phone. "Please, Nate? It's just about the only thing I want. Oh, and strawberries!"

"Elena, it's the middle of winter! Where am I going to get those?" He was sitting in his car in the mostly empty parking lot of a Price Chopper. It was twelve at night.

"Um... I'm not sure. But can you try and get some? Please?"

"Yeah... You're lucky I love you."

"I know. Love you too. Get home soon!"

"I will. Bye." He hung up, and got out of the car with a sigh. "Watermelon and strawberries. Okay. Let's go, Nate." He headed into the store, and was immensly glad it was open all night. The produce section was surprisingly full. Apples, mainly though. He had half a mind to get some just in case her cravings changed last minute. But, instead, he found a small carton of strawberries. Taking it, he continued on to find some watermelon. "Elena, you are insane." He finally found some in slices, wrapped in plastic wrap. "Thank god..." He muttered.

When he finally reached the little apartment he shared with Elena, he found her watching a poorly written horror movie and covered in all of the blankets off their bed. "I'm home," he announced.

"Come sit with me. And don't forget the watermelon!" He let out an amused sigh and slipped off his shoes. She snuggled up against him as he sat down on the couch. "Gimme the fruit." He handed her the bag that held it. She tore open the wrapping on the watermelon and took a bite from the fruit.

"What is with you and these cravings lately?" he asked, pressing a kiss to her temple.

"I dunno." She continued to tear into her food as though she had been starved. "Oh, Nate?"

"Yup?"

"Can you go pick me up some apples in the morning?"

Nate groaned.

* * *

><p>"Nate! Nathan Drake! Get over here!" Elena called from the bathroom. Her tone must've been frantic because he appeared in the doorway, half dressed. His pants were barely on, not even zipped up and his shirt was clentched in one hand. She didn't mind seeing his bare, scar-laden chest even though it wasn't exactly the best time to be thinking of that sort of thing.<p>

"What? What's wrong?"

She gave him a wide grin. "Nothing. Nothing is wrong." He looked at her, confused. She held up the small object in her hand. "I'm pregnant."

His eyes doubled in size. "Really?"

"At least, that's what the test says."

"Oh my- We'll have to start getting ready! We have to get you a doctor's appointment, tell Sully and the others, start looking for a house or at least a bigger apartment, and then there's-"

She cut him off. "Nate!"

"What?" He met her eyes and bit his lip.

"Calm down!" She placed her hands on the side of his face. "We have to think about this logically. Okay?" He nodded. "Good."

"But we should still do all that..." He muttered, looking down at her with soft eyes.

"I know, but first, we should think, okay?" He nodded again. "Now, what should we do first?"

"Uh..."

"Tell Sully."

"Tell Sully."

"And then?"

"... No idea."

"Schedule a doctor's appointment," Elena filled in.

"Schedule a doctor's appointment," he repeated back, placing a hand over her's.

"Good. You good?"

"I'm good."

"Then let's call Sully."

"Okay."

* * *

><p>"Why'd you two want me over here so bad?" Sully asked, taking off his shoes as he stepped into the apartment.<p>

"Guess," Nate spoke with a smirk from his spot at the table. In his hands were a steaming cup of coffee.

"How the hell should I know?" Sully shrugged and stuck his hands in his pockets as he sat next to his adopted son.

"Well, I'm not going to make you guess," Elena spoke as she entered from the living room. She waisted no time telling him the news. "I'm pregnant."

Sully's eyebrows went up and his signature grin appeared over his face. "Well, I'll be go to hell. I'm gonna be a grandpa!"

"I can't believe it either!" Nate said, a wide smile over his features.

"I never expected you to be a father, kid. I saw Elena as a mother, though. Not sure how that worked though." The old man laughed, patting the younger man on the back.

"Oh, thanks for believing in me," Nate muttered in a friendly manner, rolling his eyes.

Sully turned his attention to Elena. "You call up Chloe and Charlie?"

"Yeah. They said they'd be here in about fifteen or twenty minutes," she explained, leaning against Nate's back and setting her hands on his shoulders. "How surprised do you think they'll be?"

"Hmph. Hard to say. I don't think it's very surprising. It was more of a 'when' than an 'if'. I guess we all kinda thought it'd happen eventually." Sully shrugged and leaned back in his chair. "What're you guys planning to do for the next few months?" He reached into his pocket and took out a cigar by force of habit.

"We're not entirely sure, but we've thought about it a little," she answered.

"Already? Goddamn. You guys work fast."

"Well, you should've heard Nate when I told him. Spewing out a list of things he thought we should do. And, he did this shirtless I might add."

"Hey, I was nervous," Drake defended.

"You could've at least put a shirt on." Elena rolled her eyes but grinned.

There was a knock on the door and she left Nate's side to go to the door. "Coming." She opened the door to Chloe and Cutter. "Hey, you two are early."

"Yup. We got out early," Chloe answered. She stepped inside, Cutter in tow.

"What is it you two wanted to tell us?" The large british man asked as he took one of the seats at the table. Chloe opted to sit across his lap and leave the last chair for Elena. He grunted, but allowed it. Elena took the open seat and turned her attention towards them.

"It ain't gonna surprise you that much," Sully warned.

Nate rolled his eyes and asked, "Do you want to guess first?"

"Sure," Chloe answered. "Hmm... Let's see. You need us to go on some journey to some ancient ruin to find some treasure. And Cutter'll hurt himself in the process." She gave him a 'one-too-many-times' look.

"Nope!" Elena smirked.

"One time! I hurt myself one time," Cutter mumbled, though he was ignored the two women.

"Oh. That was my only guess. Got any, Charlie?"

"Nope. Though, I am surprised it's not the journey thing." He settled his hands on her hips as she leaned foreward against the table. "Well? What is it?"

Elena smiled. "I'm pregnant." She placed her hands over her stomach though it was flat.

"Hah!" Cutter exclaimed with a lopsided grin. "Chloe, you owe me twenty."

"Aw, sonova..." she grumbled. "Fine. But I'm not paying you back with money," she informed suggestively.

"Fine by me," he replied, poking his finger at her side.

"Anyway, when did you find out?" Chloe asked, elbowing Cutter gently and otherwise ignoring him.

"Today. This morning, actually. It freaked Nate out. Didn't it, sweetie?" Elena grinned, drawing out the word and kicking Nate under the table.

"Hey, I wasn't expecting the news! The way you yelled for me, I thought you'd been hurt. You know how bad I am about that," Nate defended.

"Yes, we all do. Two of us saw you cry about it," Chloe laughed. Nate's tears over Elena in Tibet as something they picked on him constiently. Of course, at the time, it had been no laughing matter. No, at the time, all present were worrying about Elena. 'The Grenade Scare', as it as often referred to as by Elena, Chloe, Nate and Sully, had left Elena with many scars down her torso and on her legs.

"I wasn't crying!" Nate objected.

Chloe snorted. "You were. I saw you, mate," she reminded.

"And it wasn't raining," Elena added in. "It was sunny."

"C'mon, I can't win on my own against two girls!" he protested, looking over at the other two for support. Both looked away.

"Sorry, kid. I can't help you here." Sully shrugged, knowing there was no way any guy could win against two girls.

"Yeah. And just wait until Elena starts having mood swings," Cutter threw in. "You're gonna be in bad shape."

"I have no hope, do I?"

"None at all."

* * *

><p><strong>I'll continue this, hm? Oh, and, by the way, this would be late in the first month, when the body starts cranking out those life altering hormones.<strong>


	2. Month Two

**Sorry for the time in between chapters. I've been having issues getting to my sister's lately. I had to get surgery on my foot and even going a block over to use a computer got hard. But I'm off crutches and I'll be updating more frequently(hopefully).**

* * *

><p><strong>Nine<strong>

**Month Two**

"Elena, sweetie, how're you feeling?" Nate asked, sitting down at the edge of the bed, gently rubbing her back in small circles.

"Tired. I hate morning sickness." She was curled up under all of the blankets they had. She looked up at him with big brown eyes. "Lay with me?"  
>"Of course." He slid under the blankets beside her, wrapping around her, a hand resting on her stomach. To someone merely looking at her, there was no indication she was pregnant. But Nate could feel the difference. He knew how she usually was and now, a life growing inside her, there was a sort of firmness there and a barely noticable bump.<p>

"Nate?" she asked, capturing his attention.

"Hm?"

She hesitated. She had something nagging at her, forcing doubt into her mind. Nate was someone who wasn't easily tied down. She thanked god that he stayed with her, rarely leaving for more than a few weeks at a time. Sometimes, she would go with him, but, more often than not, she'd stay home. She'd stay home and worry over his well being. But she was okay with him going on these short trips. He would get restless when he stayed home too long. A child, though, would change how often he could leave. A child would force him to stay home. He had to have known this.

She wondered if he even wanted this baby.

"What is it, Elena?" he asked softly when she didn't reply.

"... Nevermind."

* * *

><p>When Elena woke an hour later, alone. She found a note on the bedstand that read <em>"Sully called and needed my help. I'll be home by five. Love you. -ND"<em>  
>Glancing at the clock, she saw it was twelve. "God, Nate..." She sighed, not looking foreward to five hours alone. She decided to call Chloe and invite her over. It was a lot better than being home alone. She sat up and grabbed the phone off the nightstand. Standing, she found her morning sickness had worn off, at least for now. As she walked to the living room, she dialed Chloe's number. She answered relatively quick.<p>

"Hello? Hi, Chloe, it's Elena." She sat down on the couch and kept talking. "I'm fine. Think you can come over? Nate left and I'm bored... Great, see you when you get here. Bye." She hung up.  
>Her doubts from earlier resurfaced in her mind. Did Nate want this child? Did he want to be held back by marriage and a baby? She placed her head in her hands and sighed.<p>

"Knock knock," a feminine voice called as the front door opened.

"Hey, Chloe," Elena spoke, looking up.

"How are you and the baby?" the british woman asked.

"Fine, as far as I know. You?"

"Feeling conflicted."

"Oh?"

Chloe collapsed on the armchair next to the couch. "Yeah. I don't know if I want to bring a certain subject up with Charlie."

Elena looked over at the dark haired woman. "Well, what subject? Is it like... Something big?"

"Huge," Chloe answered.

"Like what?"

"It's something you are very well aquianted with at the moment."

The reportered thought for a moment and came to a realization. "No? Are you-...?"

"Pssh, I wish. But I want to ask Charlie if we can, well, you know. Have one," Chloe explained, blowing a piece of hair out of her face.

"You want a baby?" Elena asked, surprised. "I never really expected you to want a child."

"I thought that if I'd ever were to have one, now would be the best time. You and I can help each other out. Say, one of us wants to have a night with our man. The other one of us can babysit. We could raise them together, and... And..."

"You're trying to rationalize why you want a baby," Elena smirked. "You don't have to, you know. At most, you can save those reasons for Cutter."

"Well, I do want a baby. And I really hope he wants one too," Chloe huffed.

"I know what you mean," the blonde agreed.

The darker haired woman gave her a confused look. "What?"

"I'm nervous that Nate might not want this baby..." Elena placed a hand on her stomach and looked down.

"You're insane. Elena, you are insane. Do you realize how happy he's been?" Chloe looked at her friend in disbelief. "He's on cloud nine when he thinks about you carrying his child."

"Chloe..."

"No. No. Don't try to say anything against that." The woman shook her head to accentuate her statement. "Where'd he tell you he was going?" she asked.

"To help Sully with something. Why?"

"Well, he lied."

Elena sat up. "Wait, what?"

"Yes. He lied. He's making something for you and that baby right now. Why? Because he wants that child. He wants you, that child, and himself to be happy." Chloe stated the phrase with conviction, making it hard for the most pessimistic of people to be able to doubt her.

Elena sighed. "Well, that makes me feel better, but I just wish he'd say it."

"He will. I know it."

"What's he making?"

"I'm not allowed to say. Besides it won't be done for another month or two." Chloe gave the blonde a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Sunshine, everything will be fine. If only I could ask Cutter about having a child."

"Do it tonight!" Elena said.

"I don't know. I'm nervous about it."

"Chloe Frazer? Nervous? Must be the apocolypse," the pregnant woman joked, sarcasm in her tone. "I'm serious though. Get up the nerve and ask him. I'm sure he'd be fine with it."

Chloe sat back in her seat. "Still... We've only been dating, what, two years?"

"So? Nate and I got married after we had only known each other a little more than two years. I mean, you've known Cutter for a lot longer than that. Right?" Elena shifted, moving so she was laying on the couch now.

"Well, yeah, but-"

"It'll be fine, Chloe. At most, he'll be surprised." She shrugged.

Chloe sighed. "I'll ask him tonight."

* * *

><p>Hours later, near six o'clock, Chloe was home. "Charlie? Where'd you put the mail?" she called, sifting through the papers on the table.<p>

"The counter next to the fridge," the large man replied from the next room over.

She glanced at the place he had told her and sighed. "It's not there!"

"Did you try the on the table?"

She rolled her eyes and abandoned the search. Standing, she headed for the room in which her boyfriend resided. He looked up at her from where he sat on the couch. "Find it?"

"No, I did not." She collapsed in the spot besides him. "How do you manage to lose so much?"

He shrugged. "Not really sure. But I found you."

She snorted. "Ha ha ha. Very clever." It was his turn to roll his eyes. "Oh, you're watching Bones?" She asked, gesturing towards the television. He nodded. "What season?"

"One of the later ones. You know, where Brennon's pregnant and Vincent's dead," Cutter answered.

"Ah, don't remind me. I hated when he died."

Chloe leaned against the man besides her, watching a scene where a dark haired woman was trying to piece together a child's toy. It seemed to be a frustrating process due to horrible instructions. It flashed to the woman's child, a smiling baby boy just a little over five months old.

Chloe leaned her head on Cutter's shoulder. Now or never. "I want one of those." She pointed at the television.

"What, the toy?"

She gave a very flat look. "No. A baby!"

His eyes widened and he spluttered out, "A, a baby?"

She shifted, straddling his lap and crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Yes, a baby. A living, breathing child. Of ours." He gulped. "Think, Charlie. Think about it for a second. Elena is pregnant right now. If I got pregnant now, she and I could raise our kids together."

"Bu, but, a baby?"

"I think you'd be a great dad."

He locked eyes with her, niether faltering in their gaze. He looked away and sighed. "You want a kid with me?"

"Mhmm. And we have enough money to take care of a kid. What do you say?" She let her arms fall, her hands finding grip on his shirt. "Do you want to have a baby with me?" She looked at him earnestly, waiting for his answer.

He pressed his lips to her neck, kissing softly before speaking. "Let's start now."


End file.
